WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nexstar) — The Senate passed the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act Friday despite President Donald Trump’s objections and threats to veto the bill. The $740 billion defense bill is now heading to his desk.
“I think this is the most important bill of the year,” Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) said.
Inhofe said it gives a 3% pay raise for U.S. troops and authorizes other critical military programs.
Trump threatened to veto the bill unless it repeals the law giving tech giants like Twitter and Facebook content liability immunity. He also objects to a provision to change the names military bases that honor Confederate leaders.
“I don’t know who is ill advising the president to be concerned about an issue that has nothing to do with the military,” Inhofe said.
“I understand the president’s concerns,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said.
Still, Cornyn said the bill is too important to fail, and enough lawmakers agreed—the NDAA passed both chambers this week with enough votes to override the threatened veto.
“My hope is when the president sees the big margins in the House and Senate, he will let us fight those fights on another vehicle,” Cornyn said.
“This is something that we all firmly believe that no president should be hijacking,” Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) said.
“If the president has other issues, let’s address those, but we need to be sure that we are taking care of our service men and women,” Rosen continued.